


The Making of a Second Avatar

by UselessBard1031



Series: Jun Xie Trilogy [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Branding, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Child Death, Death, Depressing, Human Experimentation, Injury, Major Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Pre-Canon, Sad, Scarification
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27483325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessBard1031/pseuds/UselessBard1031
Summary: *Prequel to 'The Earth Avatar' - Can be understood even if read before that fic though.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Before she was an avatar, before she joined Kuvira's army, before she was even just a girl playing songs at a bar, Jun Xie was just a little kid by the name of Sying whose mother sold her to a life of experimentation.Learn how Jun met Bao, how she learned guitar, and how her tragic life beat her into becoming a monster.
Series: Jun Xie Trilogy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008330
Comments: 16
Kudos: 14





	1. Part One

“You’ll have everything you need for a lifetime. As long as you don’t blow it all.” The man’s dark voice was fitting to his dark attire. He seemed set on blending in with the night.

“And the girl?” The woman was asking about her daughter, who was playing with some rocks nearby, bored of the adults conversation. 

“What do you care about her?” The man growls. “Look, she won’t know you, and you won’t know her. If it helps sweeten the deal I can always throw in some of your favorite poison.” He took a small baggie filled with white powder from a pocket in his black jacket.

The woman eyes the bag longingly. Without so much as a glance her daughters way she takes it.

“Deal.” 

“Pleasure doing business with you. Just remember, if you have any friends that want to get rid of an extra brat or two, let me know. But don’t go blabbering to everyone you see, we can’t have people knowing about the experiment.”

“And what exactly is this experiment?”

“Does it matter?” Silence followed.

The young girl, a mere four years old, had been bartered away for some money, a nice house, and a single bag of drugs. That’s how much she was worth.

The man grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the rocks she was stacking, scaring her.

“Ma!” The girl calls, uselessly pulling from the man’s grip. “Ma! Ma!” She cries, fat ugly tears. 

Having had enough of her wining, the man picks the girl up and throws her over his shoulder. She beats against his back with her tiny fists. 

He didn’t care about the noise, having chosen to meet her mother in an alleyway for this exact reason; He didn’t care about the punches because at worst they felt like a bad massage. 

The man threw her into the back of a box car at the end of the alley with such force she knew she would bruise. 

She banged against the door in tears, still calling for her mother, not knowing the woman was long gone already half a block away doped up into her own world. 

“Don’t cry.” A small voice said from behind her.

The young girl sniffed, wiping her teary eyes and runny nose with the back of her arm. 

“Whose there?” Her eyes strained against the darkness until she was able to make out the shape of another small girl who was maybe a year younger than her.

“My names, Yuri.” She says, scooting closer to the crying girl. “My mommy and the big scary man made a deal. She told me all about it. She says that if I’m just brave and go with him, then poof! She won’t have to go to work anymore.”

“Where does your mom work?” The girl’s tears start to dry.

“Oh, all over the place. She works on city street, and founders street, and-” Yuri counts on her little fingers as she continues to name streets. 

“Wow that’s a lot.” The crying girl says.

“Yeah. But now, like I said, poof! No more streets!” Yuri looks down, sad. “I wish my mommy came with me. It’s scary in here.” She hugs herself tightly. 

“Maybe she’ll come back.” The other girl suggests with a hopeful smile. Yuri just shakes her head. “Well, my ma doesn’t work. But, she and the scary man were talking about a big house so maybe your ma will come back and take you there and my ma will take me too.”

“My mommy said goodbye.” Yuri’s amber eyes stare down at the metal floor of the truck. “Mommy only says goodbye when she really really means it.”

The other girl wipes her green eyes for the final time before pulling Yuri into as big a hug as she can manage.

“Then we’ll be each others mommies.” She declares, earning a laugh from Yuri.

“What?”

“We’ll do what mommies do.” She smiles down at her new friend and fellow prisoner. “I’ll keep you safe and warm and make sure you eat lots of food and you’ll do the same thing for me.”

Yuri smiles back. 

“Okay. What’s your name?” She asks.

“Sying.” The green eyed girl responds. 

The two ride in silence for a bit, feeling every bump in the road and wishing there were windows to look out of. Sying holds Yuri tight and Yuri does the same thing back. 

The truck comes to a sudden stop sending both girls flying forward, but neither releases their grip on the other.

“Why did we stop?” Sying asks.

“I don’t know.” Yuri replies.

The door to the truck swings open and two young boys are shoved in before it slams back shut just as swift.

“Who are you?!” Sying hides her face in Yuri’s arm.

“Who are you?!” The older boy, who looks to be about six years old, asks. He steps in front of the younger boy protectively, spreading arms out wide.

“Gahon, what’s going on?” The younger boy peeks out from behind the older one, Gahon. The car starts to move once again.

“Seno! Get back behind me!” Gahon demands. Seno hides a little more behind him. “Now who are you?! Where are they taking us?!”

“I’m Yuri. This is Sying. Our mommies traded us for big houses and no jobs. Your mommies probably did too.” Yuri explains. Gahon looks sad.

“I’m Gahon, this is my brother, Seno.” He puts his arms back at his sides and steps away to reveal the smaller boy. 

Seno looked pure water tribe with big blue eyes and dark coffee colored skin. Gahon looked similar to his brother and shared his darker skin tone, but had the amber eyes and black hair of someone from the fire nation. Sying seemed to be the only one there who looked purely earth kingdom despite that being where they were.

“We don’t have a mom.” Gahon said. Seno shook his head in agreement. “We were just sleeping and that man grabbed us and threw us in here. Do you know where we’re going?”

Yuri and Sying both shook their heads no.

“We’re going to be each others mommies and protect each other.” Yuri says. She lets go of Sying with one hand and reaches it out to the brothers. “Wanna help?”

Gahon examine’s the girls hand with far too much skepticism for a boy his age; It’s obvious he’s been tricked before.

“Okay.” He finally says, taking Yuri’s hand and sitting next to her. He pulls Seno down next to him and holds his brother close.

The truck rumbled down street after street, each turn throwing the kids into the hard metal walls. Soon enough, it stopped once again.

“Did it stop?” Seno whispers. 

“I think so.” Yuri replies with a hushed voice.

“Do you think they’re getting more kids?” Gahon asks. 

“I don’t know.” Yuri narrows her eyes at the door. The children hold each other tighter.

A collective gasp leaves the group as the doors to the back of the truck swing open. The ‘big scary man’ as they had been calling him stood before them, backlit by the moon and some street lights. 

“Come on, everybody out.” He demands, grabbing for Sying first seeing as she was on the end of the chain. Sying yelps and tries to hold onto her friends but gets pulled away from them easily.

He throws her to the ground outside. Before she can pick herself up off the ground, a uniformed Earth Kingdom man grabbed her arm and yanked her upwards. She was forward towards a wall where two guards stood parallel to each other as if there was a door between them. Sying couldn’t see a line for any door though. 

She stood before the guards, fighting back her tears and trying to be strong like Yuri had said as the other three children are given the same treatment. 

Now, the four of them watched with awe as the guards each bent at a slice of stone between them, revealing a long cavernous tunnel. 

There was no time to be amazed because as soon as the door was opened, the children prisoners were being shoved forward down a dimly lit hall. 

“Where are we?” Gahon asked one of the guards. He didn’t get a response.

“I don’t like it here.” Seno complained, gripping his brother’s hand tightly as they walked. 

“Me either.” Sying reached out for Yuri’s hand but was unable to find it in the darkness. Yuri found Sying’s hand instead and held it tight with a smile. Sying smiled back, the fear that was brewing inside her subdued for now.

The hallway was long, but a hopeful light at the end kept them trekking onward. 

The stark contrast of the lit up room at the end of the hall and the almost pitch blackness of the hall, caused all the children’s eyes to squint. When the room finally came into focus, they all exchanged a look.

They weren’t alone.

The room was a large with a circular shape. There was a wide hallway at the end parallel to the one they had just walked down and to their right were a few smaller tunnels. None of the four kids could see down to the end of any of the tunnels but that wasn’t what they were focused on anyway.

No, now their little eyes fell onto the circle of chains that were bolted to the floor. 

The chains weren’t all empty either. 

There was a girl, about eight year old, who scowled at them with her grey eyes from the furthest set of chains. 

To her left, was a set of empty chains and beside them was another chained up young girl who looked to be about the same age as Gahon, she had the fiery eyes and ash black hair of someone from the fire nation. 

The next set of chains in the circle was occupied by a blubbering toddler boy who was as obviously Earth Kingdom as Sying. 

There were two sets of empty chains beside him before another young girl, the same age as Yuri, was locked up. She, like Seno and Gahon, seemed to be water tribe.

Directly next to her, was a boy the same age as Sying, once again looking as earth kingdom as they come. 

There was a final set of chains beside him.

The four new prisoners inspected the five already chained ones.

“Welcome home.” One of the guards snarled. 

Each of the four kids was grabbed by a different guard and tossed towards chains. 

Sying and Yuri were placed next to each other between the toddler and the water tribe girl. 

Sying was happy she didn’t have to let go of her new friends hand, but she felt bad for Seno who was now once again in tears as he was dragged from his brother and chained next to the scowling girl. 

Gahon reassured his crying brother from across the room where he was chained in the final spot of the group. There was only the scary eldest girl between the brothers, but even that was too much for Seno to handle.

Sying watched the guards kick the crying boy in an attempt to shut him up but had to look away when he spit up some blood. That’s when she noticed that three of other children’s chains seemed to be shorter than the others, pinning their hands almost entirely to the ground.

“Just let him cry himself out.” One guard told the abusive one. “They all do.”

“Fine.” The other guard sighed.

Everyone in uniform left, leaving just the kids behind. Upon their exit, the room became pitch black. 

Sying screamed and gripped Yuri’s hand tighter.

“What happened to the lights?!” Sying screamed. 

“They go off when the guards leave for the night.” It was a girl’s voice but Sying couldn’t see which one until a flame came out of nowhere and illuminated her face. It was the fire nation girl next to Seno. 

“Where are we?” Sying asks. “Why are we chained up?” She noticed the girls once short chains had now lengthened to be the same as everyone else’s. It was like they were pulled into the earth when the guards were here but now, had been let free. 

“I don’t know.” The girl says. “My name’s Ozosa. The girl who looks like she want’s to murder you is Sao. She and I showed up here about the same time yesterday night. A little later, Huo and Miha,” She points to the two kids between Gahon and Sying. “Showed up. And now, you guys are here.”

“What about the kid?” Gahon nods to the crying boy who couldn’t have been more than two. 

“Oh him?” Ozosa turns to the kid. “I don’t know his name. He showed up a little bit before you. The other’s and I have just been calling him crybaby.” She looks back to Gahon, already seeing him as the leader of the four. “What are your names?”

“I’m Gahon.” He says. “That boy next to you is my brother, Seno. And that’s Sying and Yuri. We just met them today after a big scary guy put us in a truck.”

“We were in a truck too.” Ozosa says. “I couldn’t sleep so I snuck out of my house to go for a walk. Then some big guy came up behind me. I tried to fight him off with my firebending but I’m not that good yet.” 

“You seem pretty good to me.” Sying smiles at her. “That flame is lighting up this whole room.” She was thankful for the light and she wanted to make sure Ozosa knew it.

“Thanks.” Ozosa smiled slightly back.

“Is that why they had your chains so low?” Sying asks. Ozosa nods, her smile fading.

“Whenever the gaurds come in, Huo, Miha, and I’s chains get sucked into the ground.” She explains. “I think it’s because they don’t want us bending.”

“They’re benders too?” Gahon asks.

“Huo’s an earth bender and Miha’s a waterbender.” Ozosa replies. “Sao and crybaby are both non benders. What about you guys? Can any of you bend?”

The four look between each other for an answer before Gahon replies for the group.

“No. I guess none of us are.”

Ozosa looks slightly disappointed.

“Oh.” She says. “I was hoping you might be so we could fight the gaurds and get back to our families.”

“Seno and I don’t have a family.” Gahon says. 

“Yeah.” Yuri says. “And Sying and I’s mommies traded us for big houses and no jobs.”

“My mom did too.” Huo chimes in.

“My dad did the same thing.” Miha adds.

“Well that’s pathetic.” Sao scoffs. “None of your families wanted you? How lame.” 

“Hey! That’s not a very nice thing to say!” Ozosa scolds her.

“Awe, what are you going to do? Fire bend at me?” Sao rolls her eyes. 

“I might.” Ozosa furrows her tiny eyebrows.

“Over a comment?” Sao shakes her head. “And you call that one the crybaby.”

“I am not a crybaby!” Ozosa argues. 

“That’s just what a crybaby would say.”

“Well you’re just, just,” Ozosa couldn’t think of a word. “A big bully!”

“Wow, I haven’t heard that one before.”

“Sao.” Gahon cuts into the conversation. “If you weren’t taken or sold, then how did you get here?”

“I volunteered.” She shrugs. “I overheard this guy talking about an exparament to give children unimaginable power. How was I going to just walk away without asking to join?”

“You wanted to be chained up in a cave?” Ozosa asks, her eyes widening. 

“Well I didn’t know that part.” Sao scowls harder. “But if it makes me powerful, then sure. Chain me up.” She lays down, tucking her legs up close to her chest. “Now will you put that fire out so I can get some sleep?”

“No!” Crybaby sobs. “Light on!” 

“Ugh. Somebody shut that kid up.” Sao plugs her ears.

“Here.” Gahon rips off one of his sleeves and tosses it to the center of the circle. “Light that.” He says. Ozosa does what he says but is obviously confused. “Now Huo, make a cave on the side towards Sao and I.” Huo bends up a small rock cave and just as Gahon expected, the light is now only bright on the side facing crybaby, Sying, and Yuri. 

“Ha! It worked!” Ozosa claps.

“Yay.” Sao’s voice was full of careless sarcasm. “Can you all shut up now?”

Gahon glares at her.

“Just ignore her.” Ozosa tells him. “We really should all get some sleep.”

The group lays down, all facing the flame except for Sao, who opted to look down the long tunnel. 

Occasionally one of them would toss another scrap of clothing into the makeshift campfire to keep it going and soon enough, they were all asleep. All that is, except for Sying who couldn’t stop thinking about her mom.

Gahon had said their mom’s ‘sold’ them. Was that true? Sying supposed it was. 

The fire danced before her, slowly dying into embers. 

She thought about how her mom would read her stories every night as she drfted off to sleep. She missed those stories now. 

She tried to remember one she had told her about a campfire that was in love with the moon. Every night, when the fire was lit, it would climb higher and higher, trying to reach the moon until finally, one night, it did. 

Sying couldn’t remember what happened next. 

This fire didn’t seem like it was climbing at all. Maybe, Sying thought, it was because there was no moon for it to reach up towards. 

As the last of the flame flickered out, Sying was left with the cold empty feeling of being lost. 

She focused on the story, imagining all the different ways it could have ended, until her tiny body finally shivered itself to sleep.


	2. Part Two

This morning would not be the last time Sying would wake up to screaming.

She sat up and darted her eyes to the sound. Seno was being dragged by a massive guard down the big scary tunnel in front of her, kicking and screaming, and crying. 

The other kids all watched, rubbing their sleepy eyes and some, like Gahon and Ozosa, were shouting at the guards to let him go.

Ozosa fights against her ground level chains in an attempt to throw fire at them, but each time she gets a flame up, Sying can see her clench her teeth in pain. 

“Sying, do you see that?” Yuri whispers, pointing to Ozosa.

Sying squints and when she does she can barely make out the shine of something silver around the girls neck, hidden by her long charcoal hair.

“What is that?” Sying whispers back. 

Ozosa’s fingers start to ember up again and this time Sying watched the collar. Thin blue streams of electricity danced around the metal, stopping Ozosa’s flames and causing her to grit her teeth.

“It’s shocking her!” Sying instinctively grabs Yuri’s hand as she continues to watch Ozosa struggle.

“Look.” Yuri points to Huo and Miha. “They have them too.”

Sying feels her neck with her free hand just to be sure and sighs a breath of release.

“It must only be the benders.” Sying says.

Seno’s sobs echo out as he is dragged further and further down the caliginous tunnel. Soon enough, he disappears into the darkness, leaving only his screams behind before those too are gone.

The bender’s chains release back to full length but no one moves, not even Sao.

Their little eyes all remain focused on the daunting hall, devastating thoughts of where they could have taken him floating over their heads like buckets of water on hinges, awaiting the single drop that would finally tip them into reality.

Gahon’s eyes glistened with tears. He didn’t dare blink.

They all waited and waited with baited breath for seconds, minutes, and then an hour. 

Finally, Gahon strained his auburn eyes against a figure in the shadows.

“Someone’s coming.” He said, leaning as close as his chains would let him get.

When the guard’s shape reached the halfway point of the hall, the bender’s chains were loudly yanked under the ground. Miha yelped but the other two didn’t make a peep, too focused on the uniformed woman with the grim face.

“What happened?” Ozosa pleaded with the guard as she walked by. 

“Where’s my brother?” Gahon demanded to know, but was met with only silence.

The woman’s face was frozen in a chillingly solemn expression. 

Gahon tried to grab at her ankles when she crossed the threshold of the circle of children but his tiny hands weren’t strong enough to keep her from marching onwards. 

“Tell me where my brother is!” His tears were threatening to fall now, built up into deep pools at the corners of his eyes. 

“Gahon.” Ozosa’s voice was soft and weak. 

“What?” He shoots his gaze over to the girl. 

She chokes against her sudden sobs but is unable to form a response. She points to the hallway, tears streaming down her face. 

Gahon didn’t want to look, already hearing the screams and cries of the other children. He forced his eyes to follow her finger to the doorway. 

Inches away from him, so close yet just out of his reach, was another female guard with a saddened and shocked face, and in her arms, charred but recognizable, was the diminutive lifeless body of the boy known as Seno.

Gahon’s tears came in silent heavy drops.

He watched helplessly as the guard crossed the room with his brother. It wasn’t until the guard had reached the door to the outside on the other end of the circle that he was able to find his voice.

“No!” He shouted, his ragged little voice quivering. “That’s my brother!” He pulls against his chains and pounds his fists on the ground, never once taking his eyes off of the pair of guards. “Give him back!” He sobs, his plea drowning out all of the other howling children. “Please! Give him back! Seno!”

The guards don’t say a word and Sying swears she can see tears welling up in the eyes of the one who bent open the wall in front of the exit. 

The ‘door’ shut behind them, the lights turning off the minute the wall was sealed back into a flat surface.

Every kid except Gahon had managed to stifle their sobs into mere sniffles by now, even crybaby, which only framed his cries. 

Ozosa wants to comfort him, but isn’t sure what to say. Whatever she might have said however, would definitely have been better than what Sao, who had only shed a single shocked tear in the chaos, did say.

“He must have been too weak.”

Ozosa shoots flaming punch towards the older girl, catching the shoulder of her shirt. 

Ozosa screams and bats at her arm, her painful screech just barely suffocating Gahon’s noise. 

Miha collects a puddle of fallen tears into a wobbly stream that just falls short of helping her. She takes shaky breath and lifts it back up, this time behind able to put out the spreading flames.

“You are dead!” Sao pulls at her chains but can’t quite get to Ozosa. “You hear me?! You’re dead!”

“Gahon just lost his brother you meanie!” Ozosa too, is at the end of her chains and trying to inch forward.

Sying cowers at the yelling and grips Yuri’s hand tighter. 

“Yuri, make them stop.” She whines in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know how to.” Yuri held Sying’s hand back.

Sying was happy for the touch; Happy she could reach her friend. But she wished she could hug her.

“Oh yeah? Well you look like a frog squirrel!” Ozosa says.

“Well you smell like a skunk fish!” Sao argues back.

“Your skin smells like a roasted duck!”

Sao gasps.

“Now you’re definitely dead!”

“Elbow leech!”

“Bed wetter!”

“Will the two of you just be quiet?!” Gahon screams. They both stop bickering and look at him sympathetically. “Please.” His voice was now a near whisper. “Seno’s dead. He isn’t coming back. They killed him. They killed my brother.” Salty tears slip into his mouth while he speaks. “They’ll kill us too. We have to escape.”

*******************************

Escaping was easier said than done.

It was like the cave had been built to resist any and all attempts at escape because, of course, it had. 

Huo was too far and too weak to bend open the door; Ozosa’s flames couldn’t melt through the chains and had instead just heated them enough to leave burns on her and a few other kids wrists; Miha could barely even bend water let alone figure out how to use it to her advantage. 

Sao sat bored in a corner, refusing to help with the escape attempts but did pipe in to call them idiots for focusing on the chains instead of what was pulling them. Her comment lead to the closest they got to being free when Huo opened a hold in the ground and tried to jam the now revealed pulleys. It worked for a minute, but everytime the kids would move, the chains would rattle against the pebbles and crush them.

“Ugh this is useless!” Huo closes the hole and throws a rock down the scary tunnel. 

“We need to keep calm.” Ozosa tells him. “My parents always say that if we solve problems with anger, then we’ll only get more problems.”

“Ozosa’s right.” Gahon says. “Maybe it would help if we knew why they were killing us.”

“I don’t think they are.” Sao says, drawing everyone’s attention. She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. “You all really are idiots, aren’t you? They promised us power. This must be it. They’re obviously trying to make us into benders.”

“But Huo, Miha, and me are all already benders.” Ozosa argues.

“Then super benders or something, I don’t know.” Sao scoffs. “But I don’t think they’d just take us all here to kill us.”

“Maybe Sao’s onto something.” Gahon agrees. “Maybe they wanted Seno to bend that fire so he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“But that still doesn’t explain Miha, Huo, and I.” Ozosa says.

“Avatars.” Yuri realizes. “They’re trying to make us avatars!”

“You can’t just make an avatar.” Huo argues. 

“How do you know?” Yuri spits back.

“Because the avatar is special.” Huo says. “They are reborn and have all this spirit stuff. You can’t just make one.”

“Well maybe they have spirit stuff.” Yuri motions at the scary hall.

“You can’t just ‘have’ spirit stuff!” Huo argues back.

Gahon interrupts the two younger children’s bickering.

“Stop fighting!” He says, they listen. “Huo is right, you can’t just make an avatar, but I think Yuri’s right when she says that’s what they’re trying to do. We need to stick together and fight them.”

“Well I’m not sticking with anybody.” Sao sticks her tongue out. “Especially not a bunch of crybabies with such narrow minds. Let them try to make me an avatar.”

Ozosa looks like she wants to say something but before she can, a mountain of a man in a guards uniform enters the room through the scary door. The bender’s chains rattle as they retreat into the ground.

“Already?” Gahon says under his breath.

“I don’t wanna be taken!” Crybaby screams.

The guard approaches Sao and begins to unchain her.

“What? Me?” Sao looks nervous. “Already?”

“What happened to ‘let them make me an avatar’?” Ozosa grins.

“Shut up!” Sao argues. “I’m not scared, I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

The guard silently shoves her forward down the scary hall. She looks over her shoulder a few times until finally the others can no longer see her.

The bender’s chains loosen once again and Ozosa rubs her burned wrists. 

“Do you think she’ll do it?” Ozosa asks.

“I hope so.” Sying hugs her knees close. “I’m not a bender either. If Sao can’t figure it out, then I won’t be able to. Then I’ll….I’ll…” She trails off thinking of Seno’s charred body and begins to cry.

“We won’t let that happen.” Yuri assures her. “To any of us.”

They wait for Sao’s return and after a surprisingly short time, the bender’s chains are once again shortened and they can see Sao, soaking wet, walking down the scary hall towards them.

“She’s alive!” Gahon gasps.

“How?!” Ozosa stutters.

The guard escorting her chains her back up with a smile. He hands her a cookie and pats her head before leaving back down the scary tunnel. 

“What happened?!” Ozosa demands to know.

“I waterbend now.” Sao smiles, biting into the cookie. 

“How can you just ‘waterbend now’?” Miha crosses her little arms. “It took me this long to learn what I know and I’m still not that good.”

“Well it wasn’t hard.” Sao chuckles. “Seriously, this bending stuff? I’ve got it down.” To prove her point, she bends all the water off of herself. 

“What did they do to you?” Sying asks.

“Spirits if I know.” Sao replies. Ozosa makes a face at her curse word. “They put this needle in my arm and it hurt a lot but then it was like I was somewhere else. My vision got all fuzzy and my brain felt light. They chained my waist and feet against a wall and started just spraying this water at me. They wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t breathe. They kept shouting to just bend it, but I didn’t think I knew how. Then I heard this voice speaking to me. I don’t know what it was saying, but I just felt lighter listening to it. It was like I wasn’t there; Like I was watching someone else. So I raised my hand and I just did it.”

“You just did it?” Miha’s jaw drops. “Just like that?”

“That’s what I’m telling you.” Sao says, finishing her treat. “And once I did it was like woosh I was right back in my body except I felt different. More powerful.” She smiles wide and makes two fists. “Oh, and I know whose holding us here.” 

“What? Who?” Ozosa asks, flabbergasted.

“The queen.” Sao tells her.

“Liar!” Sying says. “Why would the queen be making avatars?”

“Didn’t get to ask her.” Sao shrugs. “But it was definitely her. I recognized her face.”

“Was there anyone else in the room?” Gahon asks. 

“Oh yeah, tons of people.” Sao says. “Some in labcoats, some in guards uniforms. Look, I don’t know what they gave me, but it was like it unlocked something. I’m telling you, don’t fight it. This is amazing.”

***********************************

That night, after the room got dark, Sying found herself once again unable to fall asleep. 

She watched the flames of their makeshift campfire, shivering despite the fire because she had given up her sleeves to fuel it. 

She thought back to the story about the fire and the moon but it did nothing to lull her to sleep; She needed a new story.

“Yuri.” She whispers, looking at the little girls back. “Yuri!”

Yuri groans.

“Yuri, are you asleep?”

“I’m trying to be.” Yuri whispers back.

“Oh, okay, sorry.” Sying gazes back at the fire but not even a second later finds herself looking back at the girl. “Yuri?”

The other girl sighs and flips over to her side to face Sying.

“What do you want?” She asks.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Yeah.” Yuri looks sad. “Me either.”

“My Ma used to tell me stories at night. They helped me sleep. Do you know any?”

Yuri thinks.

“No.” She replies. “Do you?”

“No.” Sying sighs, disappointed. 

“Why don’t we make one up?” Yuri smiles slightly.

“Okay.” Sying smiles back. “What should it be about?”

“Hm.” Yuri pouts her lips. “Oh I know!” She smiles again. “Let’s make a story about a trapped girl who is rescued by a handsome warrior.”

“Okay. And her name can be…” Sying thinks. “Ling.”

“So, once upon a time Ling was trapped by…”

“By an evil queen.” Sying giggles. Yuri giggles back.

“Yes, an evil queen, who kept her locked up in a dark cave. She chained her up all night and during the day, she made her fight!”

“Who did she fight?”

“The other prisoners, of course.”

“Do you think we’ll have to fight each other?” Sying looked worried.

“It’s only a story.” Yuri notices her friend’s face. “Oh all right. The evil queen made Ling fight…”

“A dragon!” Sying smiles. “And every time she would beat the dragon, she would get reward.”

“Yeah! And one day, her reward was to go outside the cave. That’s where she met the handsome warrior.”

“Can it be a beautiful warrior instead?”

“No beautiful is a word for girls.”

“So? Boys are gross!”

“Not to Ling they’re not.”

“How do you know?”

“Fine. It can be a beautiful warrior. Ling wanted to be friends with the warrior so badly that she swore she would kill the dragon and the evil queen so that one day, she could leave the cave forever.”

“Did she do it?”

“Yeah.” Yuri said. “I’m getting to that part.

Yuri continued to spin her tale of Ling and the beautiful warrior that rescued her from the evil queen and by the end, both girls found themselves sound asleep, their heads filled with dreams of hope.


	3. Part Three

Sying wasn’t sure if it was the sound or the feeling of her empty stomach that woke her but she did know she was hungry. She tried to think about the last time she ate and honestly couldn’t remember, not even in the time before the lab.

As if reading her mind, the bright lights to the room turn on and a guard enters the room with trays of food. He drops one in front of each of the kids before standing in the center of the circle and folding his arms.

“Eat.” He orders.

Sying doesn’t have to be told twice, not batting an eye at the questionable grey slop and just picking the mold off the bread slice. 

Yuri is a bit more apprehensive, poking at the ‘meal’ with her finger.

“Yuri you have to eat.” Sying says.

“No.” Yuri crosses her tiny arms. 

“Yuri if you don’t eat, how will you stay strong?’ Sying says. Yuri is unphased.

“No. It’s gross.” Sying thinks and then smiles.

“I know!” She beams. “Try to imagine it’s your favorite food then plug your nose like this.” She pinches her nose with her thumb and forefinger and Yuri reluctantly does the same thing. “Now close your eyes and imagine it’s something really tasty.”

Both girls close their little eyes and shovel the slop into their mouths with their free hands. 

It doesn’t really work, but it does taste fine enough for Yuri to make herself swallow it so Sying takes that as a win.

“Hurry up, we haven’t got all day.” The guard spits. 

The children all hurriedly clean their plates.

“Finally.” He mutters, collecting the trays so they can’t be used as weapons. 

When he reaches Sying he smirks and speaks to her with a hushed voice. “You’re especially going to need the energy, girly. You’re next.”

Sying’s eyes widen and she freezes. No one says a word until the now laughing guard has left the cave. 

“Sying, what did he say to you?” Yuri asks, grabbing at the stone girl’s hand. 

“He said…” Sying fights back tears and sniffs. “He said I’m next.”

“Don’t worry Sying, you can do it.” Gahon reassures her.

“No I can’t!” She cries, tears beginning to fall. “I can’t do it! I’ll end up,” She sniffles again and more tears fall “end up…” She can’t bring herself to finish the thought. “I want my Ma!” She outright sobs now, unable to push her feelings back any longer.

“Sao could do it, Sying. Maybe you can too!” Ozosa tries. Sying shakes her head. 

“Well what if we prepared you?” Gahon suggests. 

Sying looks up at him and wipes her eyes and nose with the back of her arm. 

“How would you do that?” She stutters.

“Well, Ozosa, Huo, Miha, and Sao are all benders.” He says. “They could teach you so that when you go to the scary tunnel, you already know what you’re doing.”

“Count me out.” Sao crosses her arms. “If she isn’t strong enough to bend, that’s her problem.”

“Well I’ll help you.” Ozosa glares at Sao before smiling at Sying. 

“Me too.” Huo beams.

“I don’t know much, but I’ll show you what I can.” Miha offers.

“See? You’ve got one of each here.” Gahon says. 

Sying’s crying lessens but she doesn’t look fully convinced.

“What about air?” She asks.

“There hasn’t been any air benders in years.” Gahon says. “I don’t think the queen is that crazy.”

“Okay.” Sying nods and takes a shaky breath. “Let’s do it. What should we start with?”

“I can start.” Ozosa forms a flame in her palm. “Firebending is really easy.”

Sying looks skeptical but nods. 

“Okay, so how do you do that?” She points to the flame.

“It’s all in the thoughts.”

*

An hour passes. Then two. The three benders each take a turn at helping Sying but she still can’t do a single thing by the end.

“This is stupid!” Sying hugs her knees close. “I’m gonna die.” she mumbles. “I’m going to burn, or drown, or get crushed, or suffocate.” Her tears return.

“Don’t give up hope.” Gahon says. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Just wait til they give you whatever that was they gave me.” Sao says. 

Sao didn’t help them try and teach her but she had become worried about the young girl the more time went on.

“You’ll feel like you can do it.” She continues. “I promise.”

Sying looks up at Sao’s sincere eyes.

“I will?” She asks.

“Totally.” Sao smiles a crooked smile, flashing a missing tooth. “It will feel like you’re watching someone else. Just imagine that someone else is a bender like Ozosa here. Don’t think of it as you.”

“Wow Sao, that actually sounded like you care.” Ozosa smirks.

Sao clicks her tongue and drops her smile. 

“Like I would.” She sticks her tongue out at Ozosa. “I just didn’t like her crying. It was annoying.”

“You know it’s not bad to not be such a big jerk all the time!” Ozosa argues.

“Here we go again.” Yuri whispers to Sying with a smile. Sying smiles back and holds Yuri’s hand, somehow reassured by the now familiar bickering.

“Thanks for making me eat.” Yuri tells her, her chesnut eyes still focused on the argument. “I just wanted to say that in case you die.”

“You think I’m gonna die?” Sying pouts, also keeping her gaze on the other two girls. 

“I said if you die not when you die.” 

“Thanks for believing in me.”

“Don’t worry Sying, you and me, we’re strong. And brave. And, we can kick anyone’s butt!”

“Thanks Yuri.” 

Ozosa and Sao’s argument is cut off by their chains being yanked harshly down.

Ozosa shoots a worried look at Sying. Sying tries to keep her face strong but is shaking like a leaf on the inside. 

Two guards come down the scary hall, b-lining for Sying. She takes another breath, trying to stay calm.

_ Be strong.  _ She thinks. _ Be brave. Like Yuri says. _

She’s uncuffed and lead down the hall, a guard at either side. 

Her breathing quickens with every step. 

The tunnel is even darker than it had initially appeared. Walking through it, Sying felt completely blind. She tried to focus on what she could hear, and what she could feel, but other than her own breathing and the heavy footsteps of the guards there was no sound; The dirt beneath her feet was flat with an occasional pebble thrown about and it was cold. So cold.

Sying began to once again regret using the fabric of her sleeves for the campfire. She focused on the cold air, trying to distract herself from whatever lay ahead; Trying to distract herself from her possible doom. 


	4. Part Four

The end of the tunnel was just that, the end. 

_ This can’t be it.  _ Sying thinks.  _ Maybe we had it wrong. Maybe Sao lied. Maybe they are just killing us.  _

Her new fears were eased back into her old fears when the guards step before her and bend open the stone wall before them to reveal a bright and bustling laboratory.

Sying recognized what it was from picture books and stories. 

People ran around in lab coats and guards uniforms, ticking off checklists and fiddling with scary looking machines. 

In the center of the chaos was proof Sao wasn’t lying about who was holding them captive; The Earth Queen leered with her eyes yet smiled with her lips as she gazed up on the scared young girl. 

“Let’s try air with this one.” She demands. 

Sying’s tiny heart dropped. 

She hadn’t been able to pick up a single thing of what Ozosa, Huo, and Miha had tried to teach her about actual bending and now she was being forced to learn something that maybe three people had done in the last hundred years.

The guards that had escorted her into the lab shut the wall closed as a new pair of hands ushered her forward towards a thin glass tube with wires and thinner tubes hooked up to it.

Sying pressed her feet firmly to the ground but her little muscles were no match for an adult. 

She inched closer, no matter how hard she fought until finally, she found herself directly in front of the clear prison.

Her reflection caught her eye.

Her emerald green eyes glistened wide with tears. Her little cheeks, still protected with a layer of baby fat, were dusted with a thin layer of dirt from sleeping on the ground. Her little lips were cracked and dry and her chesnut hair fell in tangled locks to her shoulders with some pieces shielding her pale face.

She could see a young woman in a labcoat come up behind her and stab her neck with a syringe but she was too focused on her fear to feel it pierce her skin.

The glass began to rise up, taking her reflection with it, and leaving her alone to be shoved onto the circular platform before her. The white metal felt chill beneath her bare feet. Vents cut sharp thin lines into her heels and toes but there was no room for her to shift away from them.

The glass lowered once more, locking in place at the base with a click and a whizzing noise.

Sying’s breathing quickened, her tiny chest rising and falling in rapid succession. 

“Be brave.” She whispered to herself. “Be strong.” She remembered Yuri’s words and imagined the girl was with her now.

She looked out the glass at the bustling lab, but soon that distraction too was gone as another ring lowered around the outside of the tube. The inside of the new layer was a mirror, the outside that Sying couldn’t see, was a clear window.

The scientists and guards alike peered in at her while she floated away from her own body. 

She watched her toes wiggle, but it wasn’t like watching her own. 

She stared at her face in the mirrored wall and soon, it was as if she was the reflection, staring in at this young dirty girl with ragged clothes.

The girl in the tube looked scared. Terrified. Sying wished someone was there to hold her hand and to tell her it was alright.

A feather floated down gently from the ceiling and a distant yet clear voice came over an internal speaker.

“Ninety percent of the oxygen in this tank will be sucked out when I finish speaking.” The queen’s voice sounds omniscient and far off. “From there, you will have two minutes to figure out how to make the feather move before more of the oxygen is sucked out.”

Sying wasn’t sure how much ninety percent was but it didn’t sound good.

“From there, for every two minutes you fail to move the feather, we will extract more oxygen until you have two choices. One, bend the air to keep the oxygen inside your tank or two, choke to death on Co2.”

Sying didn’t know what Co2 was but just like ninety percent, it didn’t sound like a good thing. 

She watched the dirty girl shiver and cry. She watched her hug herself tightly as she looked down on the still feather before her.

_ Just move it.  _ Sying thinks, drifting even further from her own body as she descends into the void.  _ Just do it. _

The girl continues to silently cry. She leans against the mirrored tube in an attempt to distance herself from the feather as much as she can.

It only feels like seconds before the vents loudly pull down some air.

_ That wasn’t two minutes.  _ Sying thinks.  _ How do they expect her to get out of here? _

_ Stop crying! _

The girl must hear her because she stops, drying her green eyes with the back of her hand.

_ Breathe. _

The little girl takes in a shaky breath and steps closer to the intimidating yet peaceful object.

_ Slowly. Breathe. _

Sying isn’t sure how but she knows what to do - what to tell this girl to do; And somehow, she knows that the girl can do it; She can do it.

_ Take a breath, and feel the air. _

The girl closes her eyes and breathes, deep and slow.

The vents start up again and she jumps.

_ Ignore it.  _ Sying thinks.  _ Just focus on your breathing. _

The girl takes another shaky breath and raises her hands. The sound of the vents turns dull and the beat of her heart grows louder.

_ Move it.  _ Sying’s voice urges her on. The little girls lips move in sync with Sying’s thoughts.  _ Move it. You can do it. Just move it, Sying. _

Her head feels light and she can hear the dull noise of the vents start up again. 

She can feel herself drifting away from the girl, from the feather, from all of it. Drifting away into darkness.

_ Move it! You’re out of time! Move it! _

The void creeps in from all sides now, blurring Sying’s vision and causing her head to throb. 

Just before it all goes balck, she sees the feather lift from the metal ground and rise to the girls face.

_ You did it. _

_ I did it. _

_ It moved. _

*********************

When Sying wakes up, she’s back in her chains next to Yuri, only now hers are as short as the benders.

“Sying! You’re awake!” Yuri cheers. “Did you do it?”

Sying glances around the now familiar room. 

Sao, Huo, Ozosa, Miha, and her own chains were all restricted. A stern guard stood by the entrance to the scary hall, arms crossed, and eyes focused straight ahead. All of the children stared at Sying with expressions that ranged from fear to worry to awe.

“I must have.” Sying says, looking down at her dirty hands. 

“I knew learning from Ozosa, Huo, and Miha would help!” Yuri beams.

“It didn’t.” Sying says. 

Her ears were ringing and her head pounded. She felt like she had just fallen into her body from somewhere far above.

“It was air.” Sying says simply. 

Her eyes fall on a cookie in front of her. She picks it up and tosses it towards Yuri. 

“I’m not hungry.” She tells her, falling to the ground on her side. 

The metal around her wrists cuts into her as she struggles to get comfortable. 

“Sying, is everything okay?” Yuri sounds concerned.

Sying watches the guard, his motionless gaze. Her head begins to feel lighter and her breathing grows louder.

“I’m fine, Yuri.” Her eyes flutter closed despite how hard she tries to keep them open. “I just need some sleep.”

Her eyes shut once more and she’s lifted into a weightless dream.


	5. Part Five

It had been three years of torment at the hands of the queen and Sying, along with some others, had chosen to take on new names.

She had chosen the name Jun Xie, from a song one of the nicer guards had sung them. 

There was always a guard now. Ever since that day Jun tipped the ratio of bending children to non bending children, there was always at least one guard in the main room with them which meant light at all times, even while they tried to sleep.

The one the kids had nicknamed ‘Music Man’ was Jun’s favorite. His shift was at night. He would sneak in his guitar and play them to sleep. Only Jun never slept on the nights he watched over them, too captivated by the way his fingers danced along the six thin strings.

One night, when it was just him and the children, he offered to teach them to play. Most of the kids were nervous about it, knowing what awaited them if they failed at a bending test in this place and fearing music would be the same. But Jun had jumped on the opportunity. 

_“I’ll start you with a simple song.” He smiled down at her and set the guitar in her lap._

_It was at least three sizes too big for her but she managed to get the chords down as he showed her where and how to place her fingers._

_“Like this?” Jun asked, the word ‘this’ sounding more like ‘thith’ because of her two missing front teeth._

_They hadn’t fallen out, no, they had been knocked out in a fight._

_“Exactly.” He muses. “Just like that. Now, strum and switch to the next chord.”_

_Jun does as she’s told and smiles wide at the noise._

_“I did it!” She shouts. He shushes her gently and strokes her hair._

_“Yes you did, little Sying.” He praises. “Good job.”_

_“I don’t like that name.” Jun had complained, handing him back the guitar. “It reminds me of my ma.”_

_“And you don’t like your mother very much I assume?” He frowns._

_“No.” Jun spits. “How can I? She sold me.”_

_“Hm. Well you don’t look like a Sying anyway.” He smiles slightly and starts to play a tune none of them had heard before._

_“I don’t?” Jun looked hopeful._

_“No.” He watches his fingers as they moved up and down the frets, a habit Jun would pick up from watching him. “You look much too strong to be a Sying. You my dear, look like a Jun.”_

_“Jun?” She asked, leaning in closer._

_“Yes. Jun Xie.” He says. His voice turns into singing as he begins the lyrics of the song._

_Come one, come all,_

_And hear my tale._

_Tis about a girl,_

_Who answered the wilds call._

_And they call her,_

_Jun Xie._

_Tiny helpless,_

_Jun Xie._

_They’d soon learn, what I’ve always said,_

_A foe of Jun Xie’s is a foe who is dead._

_So come all and listen,_

_To Jun Xie._

_The circle of kids all listened with baited breath. These were their favorite songs - the ones that told stories._

_Even Sao, who claimed at nine she was too old for baby things like sing alongs, had turned towards the sound._

  
  
  


_Our hero girl was only a mere ten,_

_When the beast of the woods began clawing._

_The villagers, were all afraid to go._

_All except, this little girl who went crawling._

_And they called her,_

_Jun Xie._

_Brave, and strong,_

_Jun Xie._

_They’d soon learn, what I’ve always said._

_A foe of Jun Xie’s is a foe who is dead._

_So come all and watch,_

_Jun Xie._

_Jun clung to every word. The sound, the lyrics, all of it, feeling like home._

  
  


_Timid, yet she held her stance._

_And the monster came with a growl._

_She fought the beast like it was a dance._

_And, would you look at that, oh wow!_

_She brought back it’s head._

_And here’s what the village said._

_They called her,_

_Jun Xie!_ _  
_ _Our hero, our hero,_

_Jun Xie!_

_The girl who had slain the beast!_

_Jun Xie!_

_The children all cheered as the music swelled. Music man had paused to make snarling and fighting noises during the tense scene which had them all laughing._

_The girl who would always be,_

_Remembered for bravery,_

_And still in this song she’ll be,_

_Remembered for bravery,_

_Jun Xie!_

_I told you they’d learn, what I always said._

_A foe of Jun Xie, is a foe who is dead._

_The last chord echoed out as the children all clapped. All except Jun, who was too awestruck to do anything but smile._

_“That’s who I remind you of?” She asks with disbelief._

_“It’s who you are, young Jun.” Music Man smiles._

_All of the kids who had been sold to the lab wanted new names after that._

_Miha had become Aika after a love song. Huo was now Li, after a folk song about a warrior. The best one though, in Jun’s mind at least, was Yuri who had been dubbed Bao. The song was short and steady, a pillar of consistency, just like her._

_In this village,_

_And in this song,_

_There is a pretty girl, who sings along._

_She doesn’t know the words,_

_But still she sings my song,_

_I know it won’t be long,_

_‘Til I’m with her._

_Oh, Bao._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_She’s my little chorus section,_

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao_

_Her name slaps like a bass._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Beautiful little Bao._

_If her dad knew,_

_‘An I hope he does,_

_How happy his girl gets to sing my songs._

_Well maybe he’d help her_

_Learn the words so,_

_She could sing along._

_I’m talkin’ about,_

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_She’s my little chorus section._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Her name slaps like a bass._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Beautiful little Bao._

_Now she sneak out._

_To hear me sing._

_I gotta get with her now, make her daddy pout,_

_I gotta get with my pretty little, Bao._

_Oh, Bao._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_She’s my little chorus section._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Her name slaps like a bass._

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Oh I’m in love with her now!!!_

_Bao, Bao, Bao, Bao._

_Beautiful._

_Singalong._

_Little, Bao._

Back in the present, Jun was battling it out with Sao in a rock filled pit. Above them was a half sphere of chain link that had been electrified and behind which stood some of the same old on lookers: scientists, soldiers, and the queen herself who liked to call the matches.

Jun was barely keeping her feet under her. Dodging some attacks, but taking the full brunt of others. 

Sao still only knew water and Jun only air, but despite having trained for the same amount of time and each only knowing one element, a fight between an eleven year old and a seven year old would never be fair.

“Stop doing that it hurts!” Jun protests, holding the side of her face that had just been hit with a chunk of ice.

“Oh no, are my attacks hurting you?” Sao mocks, emphasizing the word ‘attack’.

Sao was everybody’s least favorite to fight because she was the only one of them who refused to agree to go easy on each other. 

It was like she was fueled by the other kids pain or maybe just by the rewards she got for winning.

If they passed a bending test they got a sweet, normally a stale cookie, or maybe a candy bar. But when they beat each other in a fight, they got blankets or clothes - things that really helped them.

For the most part the children shared these things, once again with Sao being the only outlier who kept it all to herself. 

She had made herself a matress of blankets with two pillows and another blanket to cover herself with and had two jackets she would wear no matter how warm it got just to show she could. She had gained half of this before the others even had socks.  
Ozosa was the only one to really ever beat her, charged by her pure and utter hatred for the girl. 

Today was no different.

Jun shot gust after sharp gust at the older girl, and Sao expertly dodged it every time. Once Jun was close, she froze her feet in place and shot towards her with a blade of ice along the back ridge of her forearm. She held it to Jun’s throat and the match was called.

“You’re lucky she’s here to save you this time.” Sao whispers into Jun’s ear with a smirk before letting her go and melting the blade into a puddle.

“Take the younger one back to the main room for feeding time.” The queen orders. She always referred to them like this; Like they were animals or lab rats. “The older one will be taken to the lab to continue her training.”

“Looks Like I’ll see you later.” Sao says, somehow making it sound like a threat.

Jun is escorted back down the thin hall to the center room where she is chained up next to Bao.

Their chains were only loosened during meals now which also meant the guard presence was doubled during that time.

“How’d it go?” Bao asks her, holding her hand tight. “Did you kick Sao’s butt?” Bao smiles and punches the air. Jun giggles and pulls her tray closer. She begins to eat as she responds.

“No.” She sighs. “But I will.”

“That’s the spirit!” Bao lets go of her friend’s hand and eats as well. 

It was the same old grey slop and the same old moldy bread. Jun didn’t know it, but Bao still used Jun’s trick of pretending it was something else every time she had to eat the stuff.

“You two.” A guard enters from the scary hall and points at Gahon and Huo. “You’re up for a sparring match.” 

Two different guards unlock the eight and nine year old boys chains and push them towards the newer thin hall to what the children had dubbed ‘the pit’.

“Good luck!” Ozosa calls. 

“Try not to hurt each other too bad!” Crybaby calls.

They had discovered about a year into their capture that Crybaby’s real name was Fa, but everyone still called him Crybaby none the less. He hated it.

“Yeah, what Crybaby says.” Miha shouts. 

“Will you all quit calling me that?” Crybaby complains. “I was a kid. Of course I cried.”

“You still are a kid.” Miha laughs.

Crybaby crosses his arms before an idea spreads and he throws some slop at her. She wipes it off and scoops up some to throw back when both of their collars go off.

“No throwing things!” A guard scolds. 

“Sorry.” They both say in unison, rubbing their little necks.

“So Jun, guess what?” Bao whispers, her voice hidden beneath the other kids chatter.

“What?” Jun liked when Bao whispered, it always meant there was some gossip going on. 

“When we were asleep last night, I overheard Music Man and another guard talking.” She grins. “They said they were ready to move one of us onto a second element.”

“If we were sleeping how did you hear them?” Jun asks.

“I have my ways.” Bao winks.

Jun was about to ask something more but was cut off by Sao reentering the room. 

She stretched her arms out and yawned loudly, demanding attention as she was lead back to her chains.

“What are you two dunderheads whispering about?” She asks, cocking an eyebrow at them as she begins to eat her meal.

“Nothing that matters to you.” Bao sticks her tongue out.

“No whispering.” A guard scolds.

“It wasn’t me sir, it was them.” Sao acts all innocent and Jun and Bao’s collars are shocked as a result. 

“Jerk!” Jun yells.

“So what’s the big secret?” Sao bites into her reward cookie with a look of disinterest.

“Bao was just telling me she thinks one of us will learn a second element soon.” Jun says.

“Is that true?” Sao asks the nearest guard. 

The guard looks between her and another guard and the other guard just shrugs in response.

“Ha!” Sao laughs, spitting cookie crumbs everywhere. “Well it’s obviously gonna be me!”

“What makes you think that?” Ozosa glares.

“Because I’m clearly the best bender here.” She smirks.

“Oh yeah?” Ozosa clenches her fists tight to stop herself from shooting fire at the girl.

“Go ahead, Ozsa,” Sao teases, knowing the other girl hated the nickname. “I’m sure the guards would love to zap you for attacking me.”

“Don’t listen to her, Ozosa.” Jun says. “Just breathe through it.”

Ozosa inhales sharply before letting her muscle relax on the exhale. 

“Whimp.” Sao sticks her tongue out at the girl.

The tension is broken by a loud booming sound from down the tunnel to the pit. 

The guards all look at each other before the head one speaks.

“You three stay here and make sure the prisoners don’t kill each other.” He orders, pointing to the three closest to the scary tunnel. “Everyone else follow me.” 

The guards rush down the hall in a march, leaving the kids to watch in fear.

“Do you think it’s Gahon and Li?” Ozosa asks.

Before anyone can respond one of the guards reappears, an unconscious Gahon in his arms.

“Gahon!” Ozosa shouts.

“Hush!” One of the guards that stayed behind orders, shocking her collar.

The other guard rushes down one of the thin halls with the passed out boy.

“They’ve never gone down that tunnel.” Jun mumbles.

“I said hush!” The guard demands.

Jun grits her teeth against the pain of her collar, struggling to keep her eyes open to watch for the other boy. All at once the shocks stop and she’s back to silently waiting and watching.

A minute later the other guards return, one of them holding the crushed and mangled body of Huo.

“Is he?” Bao gasps. Her words are met with the collar.

All of the children’s chains descend into the earth and they watch as the guards rush to close a wall over the hall to the pit.

“What happened?” The hushing guard demands.

“These two tried to attack the queen.” The head guard explains. “We managed to subdue the one boy and the other dropped his own rock over his head. He died on impact.”

“Is the queen okay?” The first guard asks.

“Yes. We got her out of there as soon as the fighting started.” The other guard assures her.

“Thank the spirits.” The first guard sighs.

“Li is dead?!” Crybaby shouts.

“I said to be quiet!”

All of the kids collars go off at once only this time they don’t stop.

“Keep going til they black out.” The head guard orders. “I don’t want to try to drug those things when they’re angry.”

The room is filled with the screams and whines of children but the guards only hear it as the snarls of beasts and monsters.

************************

When they wake up, the children find themselves further apart. Their chains are held shorter than before yet not quite entirely underground. 

A large stone dome had been raised around them, too far back for them to lean against but too close for comfort.

Jun looks to her side and starts to cry when she sees how far Bao is. No matter how hard things got, she had always been able to count on holding Bao’s hand to reassure her.

Now, as she looked around the circle, she noticed that they had actually taken the care to make sure the kids were evenly spaced apart. 

Gahon was back in his chains, though Huo’s remained empty for obvious reasons.

“Gahon?” Ozosa whisper shouts. “Gahon is that you?”

She strained her ember eyes against the darkness the dome had created.

“Ozossa, make a light.” Bao calls into the dim room.

“I can’t.” Ozosa says, barely able to make out the other girl. “I’ve been trying.”

Bao tries too to make a flame but nothing happens.

“Jun try to bend.” She says.

Jun sniffs and tries to make a ball of air but to no avail.

“What did they do to us?” She whines.

“Gahon, are you okay?” Ozosa continues to cry out for him, but he stays silent. 

“Gahon, it’s us.” Crybaby calls.

“He’s mumbling something.” Sao tells them. “I can hear it.” She focuses her ears before calling back out to the others. “He keeps saying ‘the box’.”

Light spills into the dome from an opening towards where the scary hall would be. The kids all squint their eyes.

From the new doorway, enters a tall guard.

“You’ve all been chi-blocked.” He explains, passing out their trays of slop. “As you will be from now on every time we feed you. If you misbehave or try to use your bending on us or the queen again, you will be sent to the box.” The metal trays hit the ground with a thud each time he drops one.

“How are we supposed to eat if our chains are so short?” Miha complains.

“Figure it out.” The guard growls at her. “Or waste away for all I care.”

“How will we sleep if we can’t lay down?” Sao growls back.

“You’ll sleep on your knees.” He says simply. “This is a punishment. This is your new way of life. Get used to it.”


	6. Part Six

Jun couldn’t sleep last night. Every time she started to drift off, she was brought back to reality by the pain in her knees. It was inhumane to force them to live like this and even at seven years old Jun knew it.

The only time she finally did get sleep is when their collars shocked them into passing out the following morning. 

When she woke up, she wasn’t chi blocked, but instead shackled at her wrists and ankles in the lab. 

Everything sounded like she was underwater. Her head felt full and fuzzy. Jun figured this meant they had already drugged her for the day.

“Your majesty, are you sure you want to continue with the testing today considering the incident?” She can hear a woman asking from somewhere nearby.

“Of course I’m sure!” The earth queen’s voice was one that no matter how drugged she was, Jun would always recognize. 

She can feel a needle pierce the skin of her neck, it’s contents causing her to fall further away from her body and from reality itself. 

She’s knocked into a state of watching, just like that day in the tube. She sees herself, still chained up, wobbling side to side.

A guard stands on either side of her, positioned the way Li always was when he would fight her in the pit. 

_ Earth.  _ She thinks.

Sure enough they begin to throw rocks at her with no warning and no sign of planning to stop.

“Come on, girl, protect yourself!” Her tormentor’s voice cut through her daze.

Jun watches herself bend an air dome for protection, but she lets it go when she feels that familiar sparking on her neck.

Terrified and quaking, the girl tries again to use her airbending to protect herself, but is shocked every time she tries.

Jun can hear someone somewhere ordering people to get her to stop - to force her to bend the earth.   
She watches a researcher push past her attempts to block him and stab the young girl with another syringe. She feels herself fall further from this place, lost like a memory.

_ Give them what they want, Jun. You’re Jun Xie. You’re strong. You can do this. _

She no longer knows where she is. She isn’t in a lab, but a void. Blackness was everywhere, just a dark numb space. Before her was this girl, bloody and bruised but fighting. Still fighting. Always fighting. 

She could see, no, she could  _ feel  _ the earth attacking her yet she was helpless to stop it. Yes, she was helpless, she thought, but she was helpless that day in the tube too.

_ Try breathing.  _ She thinks.

The little girl takes in a shaky breath but it turns to a cough when she is pushed to the ground by a boulder. 

Everything hurts. Jun can feel this girls pain.

She watches her curl up into a ball and begin to cry.

_ No tears. You are Jun Xie. Slayer of beasts. You defied the odds before, you can do it again. _

She feels like she’s falling further into this void and she knows what that means.

_ Are you seriously dying right now? Are you really that weak? It’s a rock. Don’t be a wimp. You are Jun Xie. You can’t die. You can’t let them kill you. Move it Jun. Move the damn rock. _

She never normally swore but it seemed to get through to the girl. 

“Ma’am any more and I fear we may kill her.” A voice floated through Jun’s void but there was no face to accompany it.

“Let her die. She’s useless to me if she cannot bend all the elements.” That voice had a face. That voice she knew.

_ I’ll show you useless. _

All at once the little girl stood. She planted her feet firmly to the ground, the way she had seen Li do so many times before, and she broke. It was like a wave of energy ran through her battered little body and she forced the feeling out. Out and far.

The rocks didn’t just stop, they turned, hitting the men who threw them.

_ I am powerful. _

The lab faded back into view as the little girl pulled up another stone, one larger than before.

“Stop her before she hurts someone!” The unfamiliar voice ordered.

“No. Don’t stop her. I want to see how far this can go!” There was a sick pleasure in the queen’s voice now, fitting of the foul smile that had found its way onto her lips.

The girl launched her new weapon at the men who had beat her, crushing them both beneath it. She knew they were dead. She didn’t care.

She pulled up more ammo and set her aim for her second target, the woman she really wanted dead.

“I changed my mind! Stop her!” Fear filled the queens voice now and Jun loved it.

_ That’s right. Fear me. Fear what you’ve made me. _

Music Man’s lyrics echoed in her mind.

_ A foe of Jun Xie’s, is a foe who is- _

Before she could finish thinking of the line, her collar shocks her hard.

She drops the rock and luckily someone moves it out of the way of hitting her. 

She falls to her knees.

The room once again turns dark.

The girl disappears and Jun is alone.

*************************************

For the first time Jun finds herself trapped in a memory. 

Her body was here, in this strange cramped space that she guessed was the box they had been warned about. But her mind was back three years ago to that first time she had witnessed death.

She could see Seno’s charred little corpse just as vivid as if it was before her.

She didn’t notice when the wall to the front of her stone prison opened or when her legs gave out under her.

She didn’t notice the two guards try to catch her and she didn’t notice still when she pushed them off.

She wasn’t here, not really. She was still back in the circle, back before everything had gone wrong. Or at the very least, before everything had gotten ten times worse.

She’s brought back to the present when she feels firm hands hold her down to a cold metal slab. 

She can see a furnace out of the corner of her eye, it’s red glowing mouth looking like it’s ready to eat her.

“Give her another shock or hold her still.” She hears a man say from behind her. “I can’t brand her right if she keeps moving.”

Jun fought against her attacker but with her wrists and waist pinned and her face pressed against the metal, there was nothing she could do but cry as another new set of hands latched onto her. 

Too many people were touching her now for her to pinpoint who it was that tugged her arm free from her sleeve or who it was that pressed the red hot metal piece against her shoulderblade. She screamed out in agony as her already tender skin was burned away.

“I’m so sorry about this.” he hears aa woman whisper. Jun can feel the woman’s breath against her ear but her head is still being pressed face down against the slab so she can’t see who was talking.

She could hear her skin blister and pop, her blood boil, but it was nothing compared to the smell.

There was no way to describe what it smelled like. It was similar to steak with a tinge of ash. She knew right then and there that this would be a smell she would never forget.

She screamed and sobbed, all the while trying to focus on the woman who kept apologizing instead of on the immense pain she was in.

“I know. It’s almost over. I promise.” The woman assures her.

Jun doesn’t notice when the metal is removed from her skin because the pain still radiates from the spot.

“Knock her out and take her to cell A.” The man from before orders. 

“Sir, she’s just a child and she can barely walk already.” The woman says. “I don’t mean to question your authority, but surely we can just walk her there?”

The man is silent, seemingly mulling it over before he sighs.

“Fine.” He grumbles. “But you’re taking the blame is she tries to escape.”

Jun didn’t feel like she could escape even if she tried. She didn’t feel like she could even walk.

Someone bandages up her shoulder and pulls back up her sleeve before all at once the hands let go. 

She stands up straight, barely able to take in the sight before her before she passes out.

There was a furnace, yes, and an anvil was what she had been bent over. There were many guards, too many to count, and a man dressed like a blacksmith that Jun assumed had been the one to brand her. 

But what really caught her tired eyes was the thin carved out section of stone beside the furnace. She knew that must have been the box.

It was tiny. Barely bigger than her. A pipe fed through the back of it for air. 

When Jun woke back up she was in yet another new room. Her ankles had been shackled to new chains, ones long enough for her to actually move around, and a woman in a guard’s uniform was finishing locking up her wrists.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” She recognized the woman’s voice from the other room.

“Where am I?” Jun chokes out, her ribs feeling like they would snap in half from the pressure it took to breathe.

“You’re alive.” She says. “That’s all that matters.” She stands and continues to speak. “You’ll spend your time in here now that you know more than one element. Behave and it can be a lot better than the place we used to keep you.”

Jun slowly looked around. The room was small, maybe five feet by five feet, with a metal door in front of her. She was laying on a mattress - a real mattress - which excited her. There was a blanket thrown over her and someone, no doubt this woman, had tucked her in.

“What about my friends?” Jun asks.

“One of them will join you here eventually, but for now I’m afraid you’re on your own.” The woman looks sympathetically at Jun’s disappointment. “But I’ll be here. I’ll request to be the one outside the door as often as I can.”

“Can Music Man stand guard too?” Jun asks. She stays perfectly still, afraid of the pain moving her body would bring.

“Music man?” The woman raises an arched brow.

“He’s a guard.” Jun explains. “But he’s not mean, just like you aren’t mean. He plays us songs at night. Can he stand outside too?”

The woman smiles and chuckles lightly.

“Oh I think I know who you mean.” She says. “Yes, I’ll make sure he visits you too. Don’t go telling the other guards about his music though, I don’t think they’d like that very much.” She winks and Jun gives her a weak smile.

“Okay.”

The woman turns to leave but Jun calls out to her.

“Thank you.” She says. “Whatever your name is.”

“You can call me, Hinata.” The woman says. “Now get some sleep, Jun.”

Hinata leaves the room leaving Jun wondering how she knew her name. None of the guards or scientists ever seemed to care enough to learn it.

She begins to drift off, her mind finally fully cleared of the drugs. She finds herself thinking back to another memory, this time of her mom. 

Only, thinking of her mother’s smile no longer brought Jun solace, but rather deep pain. It was only upon focusing on this internal pain, that she was able to push past her physical wounds and fall safely asleep.


	7. Part Seven

Jun leaned against the wall and scratched another little line into it with her fingernail. She counted the lines everyday, just so she didn’t forget how to count. She could get up to ten before she restarted.

“One, Two, Three,” She counts them out loud. “Six, seven, nine.” She pushes her eyebrows together. “Wait. No.” She starts over. “One, two, three,” She counts two times to ten and one time to five. 

“Hinata.” She calls to the metal door. No response. “Hinataaaaa.” She whines.

“I’m not supposed to talk to you Jun.” Hinata’s voice calls quietly from the other side. “And you should be sleeping anyway.”

“But I can’t sleep.” Jun complains. “And I have a question.”

“Okay. One question, really quick, then you sleep. Deal?”

“Deal.” Jun smiles, though Hinata can’t see it Jun knows she can feel it. “What’s ten and ten and five?”

“Added together?” 

“Yes.”

“It’s twenty five.” 

“Twenty five?!” Jun was aghast. “That’s a lot!”  
“It can be.” Hinata replies. “What were you counting?”

“How many days since I’ve seen my friends.” Jun hugs her knees close and frowns again.

“Yeah.” Hinata says. “That is a long time, huh? Don’t worry, I happen to know for a fact you’ll be seeing one of them again soon.” 

“Really?!” Jun rushes to the door, pressing her mouth against it as she speaks. “Which one?”

“Well if she passes her trial today, they’re planning on housing Bao with you.” 

“Really?” Jun jumped up and down. “She’s my bestest friend!”

“Yes, I know. Music Man requested it so you can thank him.”

“I will!” Jun slumps down, her back against the steel door and yawns. “I’m tired now.”

“Good. It will do you good to rest.” 

“Okay.” Jun crawls over to her bed and curls up, pulling her knees in close to her chest before drifting off to sleep.

_ Bao will pass.  _ She thinks,  _ She’s strong. _

Jun wakes up to the shock of her collar.

“You didn’t need to do that! She was asleep!” Hinata scolds.

“It,” The new man’s voice emphasizes the word. “Is dangerous, Hinata.”

“Oh come on, Zen, you’re afraid of children?”

“These ones? Absolutely.”

Jun grits her teeth against the pain and quints against her blurring vision. She can see the new man dragging Bao into the room. Her shoulder was bandaged and she was passed out but it was her.

“Oh five seven ten sixteen,” The man says, addressing Jun as the number they had branded onto her shoulder, “meet your new roommate, oh four two twelve eighty nine.”

He chains the younger girl up before rushing back to the safety of the hall. As soon as the door locks, Jun’s collar stops electrocuting her. 

She had gotten pretty good at not giving into it, even going so far as to pretend to pass out just so they would stop their torture.

“Bao!” Jun rushes to the other girl and shakes her. “Bao wake up!”

Footsteps echo out from the hall and once they stop Jun hear’s Hinata’s voice again.

“She’s probably tired, Jun. Remember how tired you were when you got branded?”

“What other element did she learn?” Jun asks.

No response. 

Jun walks closer to the door.

“Hinata I asked-” She’s shushed.

It wasn’t until she heard the footsteps getting closer that she knew why.

“You’re relieved.” A woman said, one Jun had heard before. She didn’t like this woman; This woman never wanted to talk.

“Yes ma’am.” Hinata replies. Jun hears her walk off and sighs, crawling back over to Bao and shaking her more.

“Bao.” she whispers, knowing this other woman hated noise. “Bao, I’m gonna lay down with you okay?”

She grabs her blanket and throws it over herself and her friend, holding her close and focusing on her breaths. 

Bao shivered against the other girl, though she felt burning hot to the touch.

“It’s okay Bao, the hurt stops.”

*********************************************

Bao shakes Jun awake harshly and out of pure reflex Jun pushes her back with a gust of air.

“Ah!” Bao covers her face. “Jun, it’s me!”

“Sorry!” Jun stops her attack and hugs her friend. Bao hugs her back, tight. Jun is sure to avoid Bao’s bandaged shoulder.

“I thought you died!” Bao said, not breaking the hug.

“No, they just took me to this furnace room and then here.” Jun didn’t break the embrace either.

“They replaced you.” Bao tells her. “They replaced Seno and Li too. The new kids are little.”

“So were we.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Bao finally pulls away. “Have you been to the box yet?”

“Unfortunately.” Jun looks down, unable to meet the girl’s auburn eyes.

“Yeah, everyone has now.” Bao hesitates before adding. “Gahon is there pretty much all the time. I worry about him.”

“How’s everyone else?” Jun asks, lifting her green eyes to meet the girl’s.

“Pretty much the same. Gahon, Ozosa, and Sao were all taken away like you. I don’t know if they died or not but I didn’t see any bodies.”

“They probably learned a second element then.”

“Yeah.” She hesitates once more. “Crybaby died.”

“What?”

“They tried to force him to bend earth but he couldn’t do it.”

“Poor Crybaby. And Aika?”

“No clue.” Bao shakes her head. “I think she’s alright though.”

Their conversation lags until Jun speaks up again.

“What other element did they teach you?” Jun asks.

“Air.” Bao smiles. “It was pretty easy, I don’t know why you’re always complaining.”

“It’s not easy!” Jun crosses her arms but can’t keep a stern face for long before she laughs. “Can I see your scars?”

“Scars?” Bao touches her shoulder. “Is that what happened? My shoulder hurts really bad but I don’t remember why.”

“They brand us.” Jun explains. “With hot metal. You have a number now, I can’t remember what it was. Anyway, you’ll learn it. All the guards call us by them.”

“What’s yours?” Bao asks.

Jun turns her back to her friend and takes off her shirt so she can see her scars.

At the the top of her shoulder blade was a number, 0571016. Below it, were the symbols of the air and earth nations.

“Do they hurt?” Bao gasps.

“Not as bad as yours probably do.” Jun replies, pulling back on her shirt and turning back towards her friend. “Can I see?”

Bao turns around and slowly takes off her shirt, trying not to brush up against the fresh scars. 

“Be careful.” She asks.

Jun gently removes Bao’s bandage. The wounds were more scabbed than scarred but the symbols were still legible. 

At the top of her shoulder, in the same spot as Jun’s number, was the number 0421289. Below it, she had first the symbol of the fire nation and next to it the spirals of the air nation.

“Oh four two twelve eighty nine.” Jun says, covering the wounds back up. “That’s your number. They’re healing well. After a few days they won’t hurt anymore.”

Bao pulls her shirt back over her head, wincing as the fabric brushes across her shoulder.

“I hope so.” Bao whines.

Jun has so many more questions for her friend but before they can catch up, both of their collars go off, knocking them out despite Jun’s attempts to stay awake.

*********************************************

This time when Jun wakes up, she’s back in the pit. She hadn’t been here since Gahon and Li had tried to escape but it seemed to be fixed and, for the most part, reinforced. 

Across from her is Sao, smirking and cracking her knuckles.

“Of course.” Jun mumbles, taking a stance. She knew the drill. 

“Jun!” Sao beams in such an obviously dishonest way. “Glad to see you’re not dead. Wanna see my new trick?” 

Sao threw a tornado of fire at the younger girl. Jun’s surprise left her barely enough time to bend it away with some air.

“Oh yeah? Well you’re not the only one whose learned two elements!” Jun taunts. She steps forward, sending a line of spiked rocks Sao’s way.

Sao jumps back to avoid them before sending a whip of water back towards her.

The two young girls battled it out, Sao easily overpowering the younger one once again. 

“Seems you’re a little rusty.” Sao taunts. “But don’t think that means I’ll go easy on you.” 

She shoves Jun into the wall of the pit and slices at her with a blade of ice. Jun raises her arms to protect her face. The ice carves deep cuts into her forearms in a way that would leave permanent scars.

“That’s enough!” The queen calls down.

Sao backs down and scoffs.

“Pathetic.” She walks away but Jun isn’t giving up just because she’s told to.

She locks Sao’s feet in place with boots of stone, throwing more rocks at her as she marches forward. 

“I said that’s enough.” 

Jun ignores her captor, already knowing she was going to the box for this. But it was worth it to wipe that smug look off Sao’s face.

Sao tries to punch fire at Jun so Jun raises her rocky prison to contain everything below her neck.

“You tried to scar me.” Jun growls. “You did that on purpose.”

“So?” Sao spits back, failing to hide the fear in her eyes.

“So I think I have every right to get even.” She swipes her own sharp blade at Sao’s face, one of air, cutting deep into her cheek and down her jaw line.

Jun’s collar goes off harshly but she doesn’t stop. 

“You psycho!” Sao yells, trying to lean away from Jun’s invisible weapon.

“Don’t you forget it.” Jun give’s in to the shocks and passes out. 

_ That was so worth the box.  _ She thinks as everything around her goes black.


	8. Part Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Link to song: https://youtu.be/JNo0Kx3DW44   
> *  
> Taylor Momsen (the singer here and the lead for the band 'The Pretty Reckless') is 100% how I imagine Jun's voice

It’s been five more years and Jun was now twelve. 

She sat in the corner of the cell, lost in her own world. 

She continually started and snuffed out a flame as she thought back to her last fight, imagining every way she could have attacked differently and how it would have changed the outcome.

She had lost, which was something she never did when fighting Gahon. She began to wonder if it was because she hadn’t used enough of her new element, fire. 

Gahon knew the same three elements as Jun and was the only one other than her that had learned that many so far. But fire was by far his weakest, despite being the first one he learned. 

Bao sat on her bed in the opposite corner, sketching on the dusty floor with her finger.

Jun’s flame gets a little to high and singes her chin. She snuffs it right away and rubs her burn. 

“Shit.” She hisses. 

“That’s why I tell you not to bend when you’re all zoned out like that.” Bao says, without looking up from her drawing.

“What are you drawing?” Jun asks, crawling over to the other girl.

“Well it’s supposed to be Crybaby.” Bao says, furrowing her brows and rubbing away the eyes to restart them. “But I can’t quite remember what he looked like.”

“Hm.” Jun watches over her shoulder. “I think is eyes were more narrowed in by his nose.” She offers, pointing to the inner corner.

Bao narrows his eyes but it still doesn’t look right.

“No that’s not it.” Bao says. “Maybe it’s because he’s not in color?”

“What color were his eyes?” Jun asks.

“Blue?” It was a question not an answer.

“I thought they were green.” Jun too, couldn’t remember. “You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t really picture his face at all.”

“Me either.” Bao confesses.

The younger girl wipes her picture away with her arm and sighs.

“So who have you faced this week?” Jun asks.

“One of the newer kids.” She says. “That girl with the lazy eye. Oh and Ozosa. You?”

“Just Sao.” Jun sighs. “Again.”

“You know they only put you up against her because you’re the two strongest.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jun smiles. “Is it bad that I kinda hope the rumor about her dying in that test the other day is true?”

“Wait what?” Bao smiles back. “I hadn’t heard that!”

“Yeah.” Jun grins wider, feeling slightly bad about it. “Apparently they tried to get her to learn a third element and she just couldn’t do it. You really haven’t heard?”

“No. But I did hear the guard from last night complaining to his buddy about having to watch Gahon and Ozosa though.”

“Really?” Jun laughs. “Why? Is Gahon still trying to escape?”

“No, no.” Bao waves a hand. “He gave up on that years ago. He was complaining because they’re all over each other. Apparently, they’re dating and the guards hate it.”

Both girls start to laugh.

“Ozosa’s with him?” Jun cackles. “But she’s so pretty and he’s so…”

“Gahon?”

“Exactly!” Jun wipes some moisture form her eye. “Is he still trying to grow that beard?”

“I think so.” Bao laughs harder.

“It looks so bad!”

“It really does!”

Their laughter fades and both girls sigh. The conversation lulls for a moment before Jun asks a question Bao wasn’t prepared for.

“Hey do you remember your real name?” 

“No.” Bao shakes her head, kind of confused. “Why?”

“I was just thinking about it the other day.” Jun says, gazing at the wall. “I realized, I can’t remember mine either.”

“Who cares what our real names were?” Bao shrugs. “Our moms were jerks, I’m glad I don’t remember what they called us.”

“Yeah.” Jun turns to her friend. “But still, it’s gotta take a lot of time to forget a name, right? Especially your own. How long do you think we’ve been here?”

“Years.”

“Sure, but how many years?”

“I’m not sure.” Bao starts to feel uncomfortable so she changes the topic. “We can ask Music Man when he gets here. Is he still teaching you guitar?”

“You know he is. Stop avoiding my question just because you’re afraid of the answer.” Jun calls her out. 

“Answers are like sweets. They seem good at first, but getting too many will rot your teeth out.” 

“What?” Jun laughs. Bao just shrugs. “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”

“I don’t know.” Bao looks at the door. “Hopefully some day. I mean the queen can’t live forever, can she?”

“No, but I’m sure her heir will keep us here just the same.” Jun spits on the ground. “Fucking monarchs.”

“You don’t know that.” Bao says. “Maybe whoever is next in line will be nicer than her.”

“I do too know that.” Jun glares at the ground. “All of those rich people are the same; They take what they want from you, use you up, and then spit you out when you fail them.”

“That’s pessimistic.” 

“Pessa-what?” Jun looks up at her.

“It means you see the down side to everything.” Bao explains. Jun still looks confused. “It means you think everything is shitty.”

“Oh.” Jun says, furrowing her brows again. “That’s because everything is.”

“Your shifts up.” They hear Music Man say from outside the door.

“Well, almost everything.” Jun smiles. 

“Finally.” The guard says, walking off. 

The girls watch the door in anticipation. They hear the keys jingle as they enter the lock.

“You need to stop getting so attached to them.” Hinata warns.

She and the Music Man had been guardian Bao and Jun ever since the two girls had been roomed together so many years ago. Over that time however, Hinata had grown to fear the children more, seeing their power grow and their psyches begin to break.

“Lighten up, Hinata.” Music Man says, his voice full of lighthearted joy. “Do I need to remind you that you used to care about these girls too?”

“That was before your little prodigy burned my arm so bad it scarred.” Hinata argues.

“She had just learned fire. It was traumatizing. Give her a break.”

The lock clicks.

“Any more trauma and I’m afraid they’ll finally snap and kill us all.”

The door opens and the two girls smile bigger.

“Music Man!” They cheer as quiet as they can.

“Hey girls!” He smiles. 

“I’m not covering for you if someone comes down that hall.” Hinata’s arms are crossed. 

Music Man just rolls his eyes.

“Quit being such a stick in the mud.” He teases, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

Jun bends open the stone wall behind her bed, revealing the hidey hole she kept his guitar in. 

“Do you remember what I taught you last time, Jun?” He asks, taking the guitar out of the hole and tuning it.

“Yep!” She smiles. “I’ve been practicing my finger movements, but not strumming because I don’t want to get caught.”

“Well then let’s hear what it sounds like when you do strum.”

He hands her the guitar.

Bao sits cross legged in front of the two, her chin rested on her palms and her smile so wide it barely fit on her face. 

Music Man had offered to teach Bao to play multiple times, but she was content just watching Jun.

Jun takes in a breath and begins to strum away at the guitar, playing the chords to the song they had been working on perfectly.

The song started off simple, the chords riding up and down the scale like a wave before crashing down in a heavier way. 

She pauses after the last note of the intro to take a breath before continuing to play, now adding the words in her raspy injured voice.

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded man. _

_ Girl don’t believe in his lies. _

_ Can’t trust a cold blooded man,  _

_ He’ll love you and leave you alive. _

_ There’s one thing you must understand, _

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded man. _

The chords continued steady and consistent through the bridge before Music Man joined with his deep voice for the second verse.

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded woman. _

_ Boy don’t you lie in her bed. _

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded woman, _

_ She’ll love you and leave you for dead. _

They sang the next line together,

_ There’s one thing you must understand, _

Before once again it was only the Music Man’s voice.

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded woman. _

Jun picks up the rhythm of her strums with a smile before she continues to sing.

_ And all the times I sit and wonder why, _

_ I’m to blame, _

_ Oh. _

_ And all the times that I’m reminded why, _

He joins her once again for the next part.

_ I’m ashamed, _

_ Oh yeah! _

Jun’s guitar breaks out into a solo, singing the melody with it’s strings, higher, and higher, until finally, she switches back to the original chords and the two sing in perfect harmony.

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded lover. _

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded slave. _

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded lover. _

_ In the end they’ll just drive you insane. _

_ There’s one thing you must understand, _

_ You can’t trust a cold blooded, _

_ Can’t trust a cold blooded, _

_ Can’t trust a cold blooded, _

Jun let’s her note reverberate out, keeping her strumming hand high. Music Man watched her hand closely, waiting for her signal to sing the last word.

She waves it down across the strings gently and they both finish the verse, Music Man saying woman and Jun joining in halfway through his word and just saying man.

Bao claps and Music Man chuckles but Jun isn’t done. She starts to flow with the chords of the song, rearranging them into a mindless solo. She lets her hands chose what to do and let’s her mind go numb, finally ending on the same note the song left off on.

“Wow, I’m impressed.” Music Man remarks with a grin. “Keep practicing and you’ll be as good as me soon.”

“I’m already as good as you.” Jun brags. “I’m gonna be even better soon.”

He lets out a low belly laugh, only stopping when he hears Hinata speaking to him from the other side of the door.

“Get out here! Someone’s coming!”

He stands and rushes out the door. Jun hurries to hide the guitar and inches closer to Bao, hugging her tight.

“Is their shift over already?” Bao whispers.

“No.” Jun says. “This has to be something else.”

They listen in to the adults conversation.

“Doctor.” Music Man greets professionally. 

“I need numbers oh five seven ten sixteen and oh four two twelve eighty nine.” Jun and Bao both recognize the voice of the woman as one of the scientists that oversees the pit fights.

“Both of them?” Music Man asks.

“Is that going to be a problem?” The doctor asks.

“No.” Hinata says. “I think he’s just confused, because normally we don’t match the test subjects with their cell mates.”

“Yes.” The doctor sighs. “We were worried they would begin top fight outside the pit too, however recent events with numbers one seven eight ten eighteen and six three nine twenty two oh three has proven that we should have feared the opposite.” 

Jun and Bao recognized the identification codes to be Gahon and Ozosa. They exchanged a look and both bit back laughs. 

“The door please.” The doctor says monotone.

They hear the lock open and hold each other tighter. 

“I don’t wanna fight you, Jun.” Bao whispers.

“Me either.” Jun whispers back. 

The door opens and the doctor scribbles on her clipboard. 

“Sedate them please.” She says.

Music Man mouths an ‘I’m sorry’ before hitting the button on his remote. Hinata presses a button on hers too and the girls find themselves shocked into darkness.


	9. Part Nine

Jun staggers as she blinks her eyes back into focus. Bao was on the other side of the pit, just starting to find her feet.

“Begin.” The queen orders.

Jun steps into an airbending stance, knowing it was the least lethal of the elements she knew; Maybe the least lethal of them all.

Bao took a breath and stepped into a water stance. She had just begun to learn the element earlier that week and wasn’t very good yet, certainly not good enough to be battling with it. Maybe, Jun thought, that’s why she chose to start with it that day.

“You ready?” Jun asks. Bao nods.

“You go first.” She replies.

Jun could hear worry in the younger girls voice. Both of them knew that when it came to wit and words, Bao would always have the upperhand; But in the pit? The younger girl was no match for Jun. The fight was unfair before it had even started.

Jun took deep focused breaths and stepped forward, sending strong yet gentle gusts of wind at the other girl. Bao held her arms in front of her face for protection and when Jun was close enough, sent a stream of water at her with little force. It was obvious to all the onlookers that neither girl was really trying to hurt the other. They hated it.

“More power.” The queen demands.

The girls lock eyes and come to an understanding.

Bao shoots first, with a slap of water across Jun’s cheek. Jun uses her momentum to send a mid sized rock Bao’s way. The girl cartwheels away from it and punches bolts of fire towards her friend.

Jun turns and slides and ducks away from each blow, using her own fire bending to deflect some of the flames.

Jun kicks up another chunk of earth, this one slightly bigger but Bao doesn’t dodge in time and falls to the ground.

“Bao!” Jun yelps. “Are you okay?” She ignores the mad woman’s cackles from above. 

“Yeah.” Bao staggers back up. “Keep going before she shocks you.”

Jun switches back to air, blowing Bao over. Bao springs once again back to her feet and pushes the wind back at Jun. 

They walked in a circle, parallel to each other, forcing the air between them. They lock eyes and both nod, choosing to let go at the same time. In unison they let the air go still and switched back to other forms of fighting.

Bao sends more water Jun’s way. The wave picks her up and she laughs.

“Hey this is kinda fun.” She jokes.

“Not for long.” Bao winces. “Watch out!” She drops the water and Jun with it.

Jun’s eyes lock onto what Bao was warning her about - a sharp stone right in front of her. She was falling towards it and had no other choice so she bend it up and threw it to the side, unintentionally hitting Bao.

“Sorry!” Jun calls.

She rolls onto the ground and turns to see her friend holding a limp arm. She was pretty bloody already.

“Fire.” The queen commands.

Jun’s heart stops and she looks up at the woman before looking back at Bao for permission.

Bao nods and Jun takes in a deep breath before kicking the girls way. Bao is too weak to dodge but it’s alright because Jun misses on purpose.

When she lands from the kick, Jun can feel her collar go off.

“I said fire! Hit her!”

Jun grits her teeth against the pain until the collar stops again. She turns to Bao.

“Bao.” She shakes her head. “I can’t.”

“It’s okay.” Bao smiles and spreads her arms out wide. “Do what you have to, Jun. Scars are the roads on the maps that lead us to joy and love.”

Jun had no idea what that meant, which was per usual when it came to Bao’s sayings, but she knew it meant it would be forgiven.

Jun takes in a deep breath. Bao prepares herself for the hit by shutting her eyes and turning her face slightly to the side.

Jun lets her breath out through way of fire. All she can hear is Bao’s little helpless screams. 

When her lungs are empty tears start to fall. Jun can smell Bao’s cooking face before she sees it. The younger girl is laying on the ground in agony, screaming and batting at her still burning face.

“I’m sorry!” Jun cries.

She starts to rush to her friends side when her collar goes off stronger than before, sending her to her knees.

“Let her burn.” There was a sick kind of joy in the queens voice.

“No!” Jun spits. 

She tries to stand but her collar just goes off even hasher.

“I said let her burn! Do it or I will send you to the box!”

Jun grits her teeth and shuts her eyes to stop her vision from going black.

“No!” She crawls towards the sound; Towards the smell. “Bao.” She grunts. 

Her hand lands on the other girl so she opens her eyes.

“Bao your water.” She manages. 

“My side! My side!” Bao grabs at her waist but is unable to find the waterskin. Jun sees it next to her and assumes it must have fallen during their fight.

She reaches for it, fighting hard as to not black out. She manages to grip it and empty it onto the other girls face before collapsing into the void.

***

Jun was in the box for what she assumed to be a full twenty four hours after that before being marched back to her cell. 

When she was delivered, Bao wasn’t there. 

She had tried to ask Music Man and Hinata about it but Music Man didn’t know and Hinata refused to talk to her. One night, when Jun was supposed to be asleep, she overheard Hinata call her a monster.

She cried herself to sleep, certain Bao must have died, for three nights. 

When she woke up on the third day, Bao was back, but not really.

Jun had rushed to hug her but Bao had pushed her off. 

The younger girl was scarred from the sockets of her eyes to the base of her chin. Jun apologized profusely but still, Bao didn’t say a word.

Four days went by like this, Jun apologizing everyday and trying anything and everything to get her friend to talk to her, and Bao ignoring her every attempt.

Finally, four days after she had arrived back in the cell, and eight days after the fight, Bao was taken to the lab for her final water test. 

She never came back.


	10. Part Ten

It had now been three years since Jun had lost Bao and it seemed her sanity had drowned with the younger girl.

The now fifteen year old had been alone, silent, not even speaking to Music Man, for most of that time. 

In the past week and a half however, Jun had been more vocal if only to threaten and scream at her new roommate, a young boy about eight whose name she hadn’t bothered to learn.

_ He’ll be dead in days.  _ She thought.  _ So what the fuck does his name matter? We’ll all be dead soon. All of us. Even her.  _

The image of the Earth Queen’s death was all that brought her solace. She would often find herself burst into sudden fits of laughter as her mind flooded with all the different ways that woman could finally bite the dust. 

Music Man was worried about Jun, she could tell. She didn’t care. 

Fuck them all.

“Hey Jun, wanna help me with my bending?” The boy asks her today, persistent as ever in his attempt to break down her walls. 

She bites at the air as he nears. He jumps. She faces the wall again, laughing as she thinks about her tormentor being torn apart by wolves.

“I know you’ve been here a long time.” The boy says, staying away from her but smiling in a stupidly hopeful way. “It must be hard, huh? I think you and that Gahon kid are the only original’s left, is that right?”

It was. 

Jun growls and shifts the way she’s sitting. 

If she focused really hard she could see faces in the walls. Faces of Bao and Fa and Ozosa, and everyone else that had ever died; That had ever left her. 

“I hope we can escape soon.” He says.

“Escape?” Jun laughs. “We tried for years. We’re stuck here, kid. Forever. We will live and die and rot in these cells forced to do whatever is asked of us by that monster.” She grew frustrated at herself when she couldn’t remember the adjective that was on the tip of her tongue to describe the woman. Bao would know. 

“Maybe if we worked together we could-”

“Tried it.” Jun scratches at the wall, drawing a smiley face with ex eyes. 

“You didn’t even hear what I was going to say.”

“I don’t need to.” Jun continues, sighing as she finishes her smiley face and finally turning to him. “We tried to escape. We tried a lot. Ozosa died trying to escape. Sao even got on board with us at one point. We’ve tried attacking her, attacking the guards, busting open walls, busting open floors, playing dead, pretending to kill each other, pretending to kill ourselves,” she looks down and mumbles “actually killing ourselves. That one worked. We escape that way.” She looks back at the wall. “That’s the only way.”

“Jun.” Jun heard the boy’s voice as Bao’s.

Fear shot through her and she spun around with wide eyes, shooting a blaze of fire at him.

“Don’t say my name!” She shouts. 

The boy cries in pain and holds his face. 

Through the flickering orange flames, Jun can see familiar scars beginning to form under his eyes and along his cheeks and lips.

She laughs, trying to stop but only laughing harder. 

Hinata and Music Man burst into the room at the sound of his screams. 

“What did you do?!” Music Man yells, looking between them.

“I’ve got the girl, go help him!” Hinata says.

Music Man falls to the ground next to the boy, patting out the flames with the boys blanket while Hinata rushes to Jun and holds her back from hurting him again.

“Get off!” Jun struggles against her but Hinata has her held too tight for her to get free. “I’ll kill you if you don’t let me go!” Her laughter turns to sobs and tears begin to flow from her eyes in thick steady rivers.

“I’m not letting you go, Jun.” Hinata says. 

Something in her aches at the sight of the girl’s tears, remembering all those nights when she truned a blind eye to this crying child; Remembering every time she let Jun’s sobs fall on deaf ears. This girl wasn’t born a monster. Hinata had helped make her one.

She looks at Music man who held the crying boy tight while he looked back at her.

“I’m never letting you go again, Jun.” Hinata strokes the girl’s hair and let’s her cry into her shoulder. 

“The next shift.” Music Man says. “They’ll send her to the box.”

“No!” Jun grips Hinata tight and cries harder. “I’m sorry! Please! Don’t make me go to the box!”

Now her mind was entirely in the present and her fear was on full blast, drumming against her every nerve as it races through her veins.

“It’s okay.” Hinata soothes, shushing her. “It’s okay, Jun.” She looks Music Man dead in the eyes. “We’ll take care of it.” He nods.

Flashes of reality were rare for Jun; almost all of her time was spent in memories. 

This day, this event, would become yet another memory that would haunt her for years to come. 

She didn’t know for sure what had happened to the boy but though she trusted Hinata and Music Man wouldn’t kill him. She also knew however that they couldn’t just let him free. 

In all her time spent reliving this day, she had finally come to a conclusion a year after gaining her own freedom: they must have set it up as him trying to escape. He would have been sent to the box for that, if not worse. But it’s all that made sense.

They had sacrificed him, for her. 

They chose her.

Yet she would never get the chance to thank them.


	11. I'M NOT DEAD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update

Hello all! 

I am not dead and this fic is not abandoned! I love Jun and fully intend to continue her story, however recently I've been busy with two jobs and some other fics that I have been simply more inspired to write. 

I have Jun's story plotted out both for this fic and the third and final installment of the story and will be posting a new chapter soon. 

I got really wrapped up in / inspired by my current Lin X Reader fic TBH, and though I now have time to work on some other fics again (b/c that one is almost done), I want to do Jun and all of the OC Fic readers justice by rereading this and The Earth Avatar so that I can really feel her character again, a project I will start after I fully finish the Lin fic.

Did that make sense?

I hope it did - I was interrupted by like 3 customers writing it lol.

Anyways, I love you all. Thank you for reading a fic with non-canon characters it means the world to me, you have no idea. :) 

Happy Holidays,

XoXo,

UselessBard1031


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